The most common types of cyberfraud are:
- Web Auctions - Items put up for auctin, money collected but goods are never delivered or prices are hiked up by false bids.
- General Merchandise - Money collected but goods not sent, or goods are not as advertised.
- Spoofing - Cybercrooks pretend to be well respected organisations, especially charities and collect donations which disappear into their own pockets.
- Phishing - Cybercrooks masquerade as banks or government agencies and trick people into disclosing sensitive financial information like their account numbers, user names and passwords. A common way is by setting up an imitation web site that looks like that of a trusted bank.
- Investment Scams - this scam involves the cybercrook sending an email to his intended victim claiming that the sender has a large sum of money tied up in Nigeria, which he cannot touch due to some government restrictions. The victim is persuaded to send some money in return for a large reward.
- Credit Card Fraud - "Skimming" is the practice of illegally obtaining credit card data and subsequently using it in fraudulent transactions that are billed to unsuspecting card holders.
- Online Lotteries - After collecting money from the public, no lottery is conducted.